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Saturday, February 14, 2015

The gift of life on Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Vail Public Safety Communications Center which has partnered with Starting Hearts to launch the PulsePoint CPR/AED mobile app to help increase sudden cardiac arrest survival rates in Eagle County. PulsePoint is tied to the county’s computer aided dispatch system and notifies users who have signed up for the app that are within a half-mile of the person in need of emergency intervention. The app then sends the user a map to the location of the person in need of CPR and the nearest public access location to an automated external defibrillator. Since its launch, more than 500 people have signed up to receive the alerts.

To date, 157 AEDs have been placed in high-traffic locations around Eagle County. Pulsepoint tracks these locations and also has a feature to collect user data. If a citizen sees an AED that isn’t yet in the map, they can take a picture of the AED, send the picture along with the location to Pulsepoint, and a Starting Hearts member will verify the location and add it to the map.

Just a reminder, February is Heart-Health month, Starting Hearts is hosting its annual event to promote heart health on Feb. 20 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vail. Registered participants will receive health screenings and enjoy a heart healthy lunch along with a presentation by Dr. Michael Bristow who will talk about genetically targeted cardiovascular drug treatments. To register, log onto StartingHearts.org.